Communication Between General Practitioners and their Non-English Speaking Patients in Melbourne

Abstract

In this paper, the degree of correspondence between languages spoken by general practitioners (bilingual and monolingual) and their patients; the proportion of general practice consultations at which language is a barrier; ethnic health issues faced by general practitioners; and the extent to which general practitioners make use of interpreters and/or use other strategies to address language barriers, are investigated. The information for the descriptive study was elicited through self-completion questionnaires from general practitioners in the Melbourne Division of General Practice. Of the respondents, 41% were bilingual. However, only 24% of respondents shared a common language with their largest patient language group (other than English). 35% of respondents stated that they came into contact with patients with whom they found it difficult to communicate in English at least once per day. The specific ethnic mix of respondents' practices varied considerably, and respondents who shared a common language with their largest patient group were significantly more likely to have high proportions of their total patient load accounted for by that group. However, 11% of respondents' largest patient groups accounted for over 25% of their total consultations, despite their sharing no common language with this group. The most common strategy for dealing with language barriers was asking a friend or relative to interpret. The use of professional interpreters was relatively uncommon, primarily because of cost and lack of availability.